Munich’s urban daycare centers are to have their own app. Calling a child in sick, informing the parents about the next visit to the zoo and displaying the closing days and the dates for the summer party and Christmas party in the calendar – the app should be able to do this. “We have been calling for a daycare app for urban daycare centers for a long time, as is already being used by other providers,” says Daniel Gromotka, chairman of the joint parents’ council of the city’s day-care centers and day-care centers.
It is important, says Gromotka, that the app is multifunctional, so that it can be used appropriately by the provider, the daycare staff and the parents. A few days ago, the Joint Parents’ Council of the City of Munich called on parents in a newsletter to contact them with suggestions as to which functions such an app should have. For example, meal plans, a monthly overview of childcare fees and meal allowances and a forum for the exchange between parents are conceivable, says Gromotka.
Gromotka sees a need for action, especially with regard to the overview of the billing of daycare fees. There must be a monthly, digitally created statement for all parents, he demands. Especially in the Corona period, when daycare fees were partially reimbursed, it was difficult for the parents to understand which amounts were debited by the city of Munich and when, and if so, which were returned. This also makes it difficult to state a correct amount about the care costs for the tax return, says Gromotka. An app could also provide this overview.
Daniel Gromotka and his colleagues want to pass on the suggestions for the desired functions to the Department for Education and Sport (RBS) before the summer break. “The app should come as soon as possible,” he says. Further functions could then still be added and the app developed further. “It’s almost the year 2022, something like this could have been set up a few years ago.”
On Thursday, the CSU parliamentary group in the city council also submitted an application for a Munich daycare app, the city council parliamentary group of the FDP and Bayernpartei had already submitted an application to digitize the daycare centers at the beginning of May and also called for an app. It is not yet clear when this will actually come about for the 450 urban daycare centers. The education department announced that LHM Services GmbH had been commissioned with the development. Due to the complexity of the project, however, no statements could yet be made at the time the app was piloted.
Other providers, on the other hand, already use daycare apps, and there are also several offers in the app stores; These are called Kita Info-App, Care or Kindy and have similar functions. The Kita Info-App, for example, is already used by around 6,000 day-care centers according to the company’s own information on the homepage.